Holiday Music

Merry Christmas!

Some year-end best and worst listings provoked the following
brief discussion of holiday music, compiling a Letterman-style countdown
with Wikipedia and other links for my favorites. Often, one song per
entry wasn't enough; and then one list wasn't enough.

10 The Little Drummer Boy and We Three Kings by Greg Miner
a versatile musician my brother discovered who multi-tracked a couple of
Christmas disks with a variety of string instruments, some exotic. In
this case, the Drummer Boy is Indian, with sitars & etc while the
Three Kings are middle Eastern.

9 Blue
Christmas b/w Santa Claus is Back in Town - because it jus' ain't
Christmas without a little Elvis.

7 Silver
Bells, by Perry Como, because the author is a city boy and a child of the 50s.

6 Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) and Winter
Wonderland by Darlene Love off Phil
Spector's Christmas Gift to You. Actually Winter Wonderland like Let
It Snow is one of the traditionals appreciated in almost any form (see
below).Also off this record, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa
Claus by the Ronettes.

4 Medley: Let
It Snow-Count Our Blessings-We Wish You a Merry Christmas by the
Ray Conniff Singers, from their second Cristmas album, the middle tune
so incredibly superior to Bing's listless original in his lame "White
Christmas" movie. Also, their rendition of
Ring
Christmas Bells aka Carol of the Bells.

3 Sleigh
Ride by Leroy Anderson. For more wintry orchestral, not so
light -- Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, the Complete (because the Suite
leaves out too much.)

2 Jingle
Bell Rock by Bobby Helms. Repeated listenings over the years have
convinced me this little ditty is one of the most perfect rock'n'roll
songs ever. First recorded in 1957, that incredible year; once ubiquitous
on Top 40 radio, not heard near as much now. Serve with Brenda Lee Rockin'
Around the Christmas Tree.

And finally,
the mellow, jazzy anodyne to all the usual holiday music,
the number one Christmas record is

And what about the least favorites? Defintely the barking
dogs/Jingle Bells. Grandma getting run over by Reindeer sounds
a) stupid and b) so mean-spirited that even though I've
never heard it, I hate it. The Chipmunks? Possibly. Don't like the
dirges of Band-Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas nor John's earlier
Merry Xmas (War is Over) (which sounds too much like the Jamaica song.)
Anything with singing children is cringworthy and I could do
without Santa Baby but the absolute worst?
All
I Want For Christmas is my Two Front Teeth which should be long
forgotten -- but instead, seems to be a Chinese favorite. I was
once driven quite mad in a Hong Kong, when the girl behind
the counter sang along when this song came around on the
holiday music loop. And lest we forget:
the Grinch song